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THE

BIBLE CLASS

MAGAZINE.

VOL. III., NEW SERIES.-1863.

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LONDON:

PRINTED BY J. AND W. RIDER,

BARTHOLOMEW CLOSE.

PREFACE.

THE Swiftness of time is only equalled by the insidiousness. of its progress. Well has the poet spoken of its "silent pace." Its footsteps are as noiseless as those of him who, on a winter's day, treads upon the soft and driven snow.

Silently the light of day fades into the darkness of night, and the shadows of night change into the gray of morning; silently the peaceful sabbath returns to hallow a new week of toil and care; silently month changes into month, and season melts into season; silently the old year draws to its close, and drops into the mighty grave of the past.

Intent upon business or pleasure, it is only at intervals that we become conscious of this ever-accumulating loss. Like voyagers on some deep and rapid river, we allow the stream to bear us away, pleased with the succession of objects which each turn and bend brings into view, only now and then aroused by some startling providence to note the distance we have travelled, and the scenes which we have passed by. And thus we are taught how fleeting our life really is, by learning what portion of it has gone for ever.

To the Editor, the rapidly recurring call to labour, month by month, on behalf of the numerous readers of the Bible Class Magazine, has been a constant reminder of time's swift and silent pace. And now that he has to write the closing words of another volume, he cannot but look back upon the work of the year with feelings of devout thankfulness that he has been permitted to share in the preparation, and to witness the completion, of the sixteenth annual issue of a Magazine, which is now not only welcomed by thousands of young people in various parts of our own land, but is known in every quarter of the globe.

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